Fact Check: Did Ben Simmons Shoot His Shot at Rapper Latto via Comments on her Instagram Post?

An ugly side of being a celebrity is that one’s name is often involved in different kinds of rumors. For unsuspecting fans, it’s difficult to differentiate between what’s factually correct information and what’s fake news. Brooklyn Nets star Ben Simmons’ name is currently involved in one such rumor.

A post on X claiming Simmons had “shot his shot” at Latto, a rapper from Atlanta, has gone viral. Is there any truth to the claim or is it just another internet hoax?

Claim

Simmons is one of the most popular NBA stars of his generation. However, he is often trolled on the internet, mainly because of his troubles with shooting the basketball. Currently, a claim is doing the rounds on X where a screenshot shows Simmons allegedly hitting on Latto.

The 26-year-old rapper recently graced the cover of Ebony Magazine. According to an alleged screengrab of the comments section of the rapper’s post on the cover photos, we can see Simmons’ comment, “Merry Christmas. I’m home alone.” As per the screenshot, the rapper shot him down by replying with, “Man ain’t you got another shot to work on?”

https://twitter.com/TheNBACentel/status/1871720553389977616

The jab from Latto was supposed to be directed at the three-time All-Star’s aforesaid issues with shooting the ball.

Simmons averages 13.9% from the three-point line and 59.1% from the charity stripe. The rumor claims that Latto made fun of his poor shooting skills while he was shooting a different shot in the comments.

Reason

The claim comes from an X page ‘NBACentel.’ It is a parody account of NBACentral, a well-known platform for NBA updates. NBA Centel is infamous for editing posts to make them appear realistic. Although the intent behind these posts is to do some light-hearted trolling, fans often take it as a real source because of the posts’ likeness with NBACentral posts.

The NBACentel’s bio mentions that it’s a parody account. Despite that, still some fans mistake the trolling for facts. The page boasts a massive following of over 250k, which adds to the allure of credibility for the site.

Kevin Durant coined a term for people who have been fooled by the page. He once posted, “You got centel’d” in response to a successful troll.

Verdict

Staying true to its purpose, NBACentel never posts anything real. They only post photoshopped images and fake quotes to make fun of NBA athletes and celebrities. The claim about Simmons shooting his shot at Latto is also fake. Latto’s post can be seen on her Instagram profile and there’s no comment from Simmons of any nature.

However, the NBACentel post on X has garnered almost a million impressions with over a thousand retweets and nearly 30k likes. For those who were ‘Centel’d,’ it’s time to start reading the bio of pages to confirm their legitimacy as anyone can now get the blue tick mark on X.